Customs Risk Management Case Study

Recently at the 2011 WCO IT Conference in Seattle GreenLine System’s Chris Thibedeau participated on a panel titled ‘National Administrations – Leading Customs administrations will present their view on Outsourced Data Processing‘. Here are a few slides from that presentation that may be of value.

The Barbados Customs and Excise Department (BCED) has a mandate to be recognized as a world-class customs service respected for its professionalism, efficiency, fairness, and contribution towards Barbados’ economic and social development. BCED recognizes that international best practices for customs organizations have evolved due to standards and agreements such as the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Framework of Standards to Facilitate and Secure Global Trade and the its Columbus Program for Customs Modernization and Capacity Building. A key component of these best practices is effective risk management.

The evolution of these best practices has led modern customs administrations to use automated risk management systems. These systems enable customs administrations to operate within a systematic framework that focuses operational resources on shipments of highest risk for closer scrutiny. At the same time, pre-approved or low risk shipments are facilitated across borders, thus enhancing the economies of the country and the surrounding region.

In 2008, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), BCED established and trained a Risk Management Unit (RMU). As a result of a review in February, 2009, the IADB recommended that the BCED procure an automated risk management system, supplementing its existing shipment processing system, ASYCUDA++, to support its performance in the area of risk management.

Four capabilities were identified as required for the risk management system:

1. Alignment with international best practices, including the WCO’s SAFE Framework and Risk Management Guide, the European Union’s Risk Management Policy Guide, and risk management systems and techniques used in North America.

3. Merging of shipment and risk related information, and a data presentation in a graphical interface to provide a single unified picture to users.

4. Customized risk analysis and presentation of relevant results to the user for decision-making.

The project team selected and deployed GreenLine System’s Cargo Targeting System (CTS) as the automated risk management system for BCED. As of 2010, GreeLine’s CTS has been integrated with the ASYCUDA commercial filing system and leverages the WCO’s Standardized Risk Assessments (SRAs) and Global High Risk Indicator Document (GHRI) within the default system rules. This is the first occasion in which a WCO product (i.e. the SRAs and GHRI) has been operationalized in a risk management system integrated with ASYCUDA. Promoting compatibility between CTS utilizing the WCO SRA’s/GHRI and ASYCUDA or any automated customs management system can be seen as an added success for customs management world-wide.

Barbados has made a significant customs modernization step by acquiring an automated risk management system. Now successfully deployed and operational, the CTS technology provides BCED with a systems based approach to adopting risk management for decisions at the border.